We Live In Wonderland
by Powtown
Summary: Three years. One trip back. A misunderstanding, which when cleared, creates mayhem.
1. She IS Kazuma

Summer Wars Short Fic. 1 "She IS Kazuma!"

So, he was finally back. It's been so long. Kenji looked out to the open fields and its lush greenery which decorated its corners. Ueda sure is slow to change, even after these years, it still looks the same.

The bus slowed to a halt. This was his stop. Ueda, Nagano Prefecture. Alighting, the bus made a sharp turn and went back on the lonely road which led here. Well, this was it.

Trudging up the slope, he recalled the time when he first made his way up this very same path. This time round, there was only his own luggage to burden him. Still, journeying all the way here by himself took its toll in its own way.

"Hmm?"

Kenji looked at the teenage girl standing in the middle of the road, her arms crossed and her eyebrows furrowed. For a moment, Kenji thought that she was staring at him. He laughed at himself for coming up with such a ridiculous idea. Why would a stranger be staring at him?

"Kenji. "

He looked at the stranger. She seemed more irritated than before. Did she just call his name? No…Does she know him? Kenji looked about to see if she was addressing anyone else. The road seemed rather empty.

"Kenji Koiso!"

Alright, it was him.

"Err…Who are you?"

If she had answered, he didn't catch her.

"Everyone is waiting for you at the Jinnouchi Estate." With that, she began to move up slope as well.

For a girl, she was moving at quite a speed. Kenji fumbled with his bags as he tried to keep up with her pace. Guess his visit this time round wasn't that much different.

On the way, Kenji struggled to identify the uncomfortably familiar girl. She definitely wasn't one of the kids, nor did he see her during the time he spent three years ago.

He speculated that she was one of the family members he never got to meet, or met but never had an impression of.

The very same doors, the scent of the relaxing countryside. Kenji let the sense of nostalgia wash over him.

"Kenji-kun! You are finally here!"

A lady dressed in a white dress stepped out of the veranda and ran towards him. Kenji nearly couldn't recognize her.

"Natsuki-san?"

She smiled in acknowledgement.

"Kenji-kun, what do you think, don't you think I've gotten more feminine?"

Kenji's face flushed as Natsuki winked at him. Trying to change the subject, he desperately searched for something unrelated.

"A-ah, Natsuki-san, who is this?"

Natsuki stifled a laugh.

"Make a guess."

Kenji studied the girl once more. Her flamboyant red top under the flak jacket coupled with her constant scowl ran against his list of possible females.

"Are you Kazuma's girlfriend?"

Her eyelid twitched. Unable to hold back anymore, Natsuki broke into fits of laughter.

"Shut up, Natsuki!"

Now bending over as she struggled to stop herself from laughing anymore, Natsuki shouted.

"She IS Kazuma!"

Kenji was bewildered.

"Kazuma-kun?! Why is he crossdres-"

His life flashed past the moment that came out of his lips. Everything went silent that instant. Kenji felt his legs give way. Before he knew it, he was floored by a powerful blow from her.

The pain came after that. Coughing, his vision blurry, Kenji wondered if 'The Light' would come anytime to whisk him to a world beyond.

Concerned faces blocked out the sunlight which streamed onto his face. Kenji involuntarily winced as he picked out the awfully flustered girl's amongst the others before everything went black.

"Ugh..."

Opening his eyes to the bright ceiling, he looked about. He seems to be in one of the guest room of the estate...Bright ceiling? Clambering out of the bed, he tripped over his own foot and slammed his face into a pillar. Somehow, he knew now that today wasn't his day.

Stepping out into the small open garden, he felt the sun shining directly down on him. Just how long was he knocked out?

"Ah, he woke up."

"Woke up."

"He's woken up!"

Kenji rubbed his head; he surely had a concussion if he was hearing voices echoing themselves. Turning around, three kids looked intently at him.

What were their names again...Ah yes, Youhei, Shingo, Mao. They've grown up so much. Well, they are still kids now.

"Hey..."

The kids only retreated from him and hid behind a corner.

"Why are you avoiding me?"

Looking at each other and nodding to each exchange made in some unknown method, the trio stated blandly.

"Cause yer SUPER unlucky."

Kenji's facial expression slipped into one of wonder. Did they think his bad luck could be transferred to them? Ah, they were kids after all...

"Bad luck isn't contagious."

Trying to approach towards them, his abdomen throbbed painfully, pulling him back. Well, he supposed they were steadfast in their beliefs and would not have let him near themselves anyway. As soon as they realized Kenji attempting to approach them, they went into a frenzy.

"Ah, here he comes! Run!"

"Run."

"Running~"

Kenji smiled at them. At least they were still getting along with each other. They had always been that way, ever since before he knew them, sticking together as the three-man army they called themselves.

"Kenji!"

He spun around to the call. A worried Natsuki stood holding pillows and a futon.

"Really now, a patient shouldn't move about on his own." Holding his hand, she pulled him back to the room. Kenji settled back into the comfy bed now padded with a futon, in the middle of the day.

A knock on the door came. Kenji wondered came to disturb this sickly patient supposedly on the verge of death.

As the door slid open, Kenji's body reeled back instinctively. Kazuma.

Her eyebrows knitted together as usual, Kenji wondered if she came to pummel him into the state he should be in.

"Sorry about that."

Eh? Kenji eyed Kazuma for a while, before covering himself with a blanket and shielding himself with a pillow in a stance, asking.

"Erm...are you...really Kazuma-ku...san?"

An awkward silence passed them. With each passing second, Kenji felt more and more endangered.

What good was the pillow? She IS King Kazma. Hold that thought. King? Shouldn't it be Queen? Arg! He didn't need all these information now. Not now, of all times!

Pacing towards him, Kazuma didn't make single sound. Making a sharp tug, removing him from his shell of cushions, she flipped him over and onto the bed.

Pulling up his shirt, she held it up and scanned his body with her eyes. A deep bruise was set over the side of his abdomen. Kenji panicked.

"W-What are you doing?!"

Kazuma produced a miniature tub from one of her jacket's compartments.

"It's not going to get any better any time soon if you aren't going to do anything about it."

Scooping a small amount of the ointment from the container, she spread it over her palm and set it on his bruise.

The cooling salve was more than welcome to his aching body. But something was wrong. She is a girl, right? And right now, she is going over his body. With her bare hands.

He never had a female do something like that! Maybe when he was young, his mother rubbed medicine oil on his tummy, but this was different!

Why isn't she at all being bashful? A surge of pain sent his thoughts into a jumble.

"Oww-oww-oww!"

Still, she most definitely wasn't holding back.

"W-Wait!!"

Kenji grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"What? Can't take a little pain?"

Her voice sounded sour, and then some sort of smirk came onto her face.

'Even a girl like me can take this amount of pain'

Kenji could somehow read that from her expression.

"Look, I can do this on my own."

Kazuma eyed Kenji with suspicion.

"Excuses."

Her fingers pushed deeper into his bruised flesh.

Kenji stared back into her eyes that demanded him to make any expression of pain. Her fingers now dug deeper, as she tried to make him yield.

All of the sudden, Kazuma leaped and mounted over him. She smiled devilishly as she added her weight to the bruise.

Rather than flinching from the pain, Kenji's face flushed with a deeper red than before, when Natsuki winked at him.

Kazuma eased her hand as she tried to decipher his facial expression, then noticing the position she was in herself, blushed as well.

"You pervert! What were you thinking?!"

They clumsily fell to the floor as each tried to break free from the other's hold, but only entangling themselves further.

"Let go of me!"

Kazuma's foot slammed into his face.

"Mhmm-Mfhmmm~"

There was no way Kenji could speak with her foot over his mouth. Kazuma began to laugh uncontrollably, her foot stomping into his face over and over again.

Finally breaking free from each other, Kenji grabbed her leg and pushed it away.

"Phuahh! What were you doing, trying to kill me?"

Kenji was surprised at the sight before him. Kazuma's face was unusually red as she glared with her angry amber eyes, them slightly tearing.

"You IDIOT!"

Throwing the pillow over his face, she stormed out of the room, leaving the small tub of salve behind. For some reason, Kenji felt chastised. A streak of red ran down from his nose.

"Kenji-kun, are you really alright?"

Natsuki carefully stuck the plaster in its place over the bridge of his tissue stuffed nose. Even so, his nose hasn't stop bleeding since the last hour. Kenji wondered if he would bleed to death at this rate.

"Really, Kazuma went overboard..."

Kenji shook his head vigorously.

"No, it was my fault, yet she came to apologize...in her own way..."

Natsuki giggled lightly. He could always count on Natsuki to understand him and his plight.

"She always only wanted to win. It's a very bad habit of hers."

Kenji smiled at last. He did remember her crying when Love Machine defeated her avatar despite their careful plans.

Kenji snapped out of his train of thoughts and put his focus back on his questions unanswered.

"Why...How…Why?"

Natsuki face lit up with a bright smile to the question.

"It was granny's idea. The Jinnouchi family always pretended the first child to be a boy to make the child strong. Being frail at birth, Kazuma worried her parents a lot, so they sent her over to here to be under the care of granny since they couldn't care for her with themselves busy with their jobs...Of course, in the Jinnouchi Estate...things go by tradition. Well, she's a grown-up now…"

Now staring with his mouth agape, he tried to comprehend and accept the fact that she was always a girl. Nope, he couldn't do it.

"He-She...Whaa?"

The day turned into night in a relatively uneventful afternoon with Natsuki still barring him from moving around on his own and had added then that no one was to approach him.

Pulling and adding the tissue rather dry from blood in comparison to the pile of others, he breathed deeply. It was a tough job lifting himself from the unbelievable pile of blankets over him but upon doing so, he wondered if she confused him to be having a fever.

Even then, she surely went overboard… Tossing aside the layers and stretching tentatively, his bruise seems to have faded considerably thanks to the salve Kazuma brought him. A twinge of guilt tugged on the corners of his mind.

'You idiot!'

Her voice resounded in his mind.

"Yeah, I'm such an idiot."

Kenji knew the blame was on him for embarrassing her, and not just once, but twice... Muttering to himself as he made his way to the bath, Kenji unwittingly made his way to the door of the room where he first met Kazuma.

It looked just the same as it was three years ago. Kazuma wasn't in the room...strangely, that made him relieved yet disappointed. Turning back around the corner to head to the bath, he found himself staring at her in her face.

Kazuma abruptly halted as she found someone neither moving nor giving way. Her distracted look disappeared from her gaze as it rose to meet his eyes.

A queer look flashed across her face for a split second. As the situation began to register in both's mind, Kazuma turned about to leave.

"Wait...wait! Kazuma-san...Kazuma-san, I'm sorry!"

Pausing in the middle of her tracks, she turned around, the usual scowl on her face absent. Whether that was a good sign or not, he had no idea.

Kenji waited in for her to respond, be it to furiously scold or violently assault him for all he has done, or to forgive him. There wasn't much hope of her doing the latter but he definitely needed to consider that possibility…for his own sake.

"I don't like the way you said it."

Eh? That sounds...familiar.

"Say it in a more business-like manner."

Kenji couldn't help smiling. Of course.

"I'm sorry for embarrassing you today. It was truly unintentional, please forgive me."

Kazuma stretched her hand to towards Kenji as he bowed.

"Ah."

Pulling out the small tub of salve from his pocket, he formally placed it into her hands. A vein popped on Kazuma's head.

"Handshake. A handshake!"

Taking a small moment to register her words, Kenji did a facepalm.

"Sorry."

Awkwardly still holding her hand out to him, Kenji tried hard not to burst into laughter as he held her hand and shook it.

"Ah, you two made up already?"

Natsuki appeared from a corner all of the sudden. Kazuma released his hand and put hers to her side. Kenji didn't understand why she did that but decided that being silent for once wouldn't hurt.

"Kazuma...You..."

Natsuki addressed to her of some matter only they knew about, to which Kazuma simply shook her head. The girls kept silent for a short period.

"Anyway, dinner is almost ready..."

Really...was conversing with just looks that easy?

"What were you talking to Kazuma about?"

Kenji couldn't help asking Natsuki what was going on as they made their way to the dining room.

"Nothing."

A/N: Reviews and constructive criticism is required for any advancement in this fanfiction.


	2. Do you remember?

Summer Wars Fic. 2 "Do you remember?"

The dining table was packed with people...even without an occasion for it to be so. Surely, it wasn't as crowded as it was when it was nearing granny's 90th birthday celebration, but Kenji was still not used to dining with this many.

He began to understand why they seldom let Mansuke tell his stories. This was the same story he told the last time he was here.

"Shisho! You told us that story two days ago! "

Kenji's ears pricked up. He didn't think Kazuma would join in. He...no, she was never there during his last visit... Kenji consciously created a gap between his seat and hers as she sat beside him.

"Really, Kenji-kun sure has become quite a catch...Loaded, studied at Tokyo Pre-University and studied abroad as well. Just as you said, Natsuki."

The woman appeared to him as slightly more wizened and much more heartening than his image of her. He wondered if it was the liquor at work.

"Naomi-san!"

The soft rebuttal attracted the attention of another. Over the other side of the table, Rika took over.

"Natsuki-san, you knew he was going to be such a successful man beforehand didn't you? C'mon, give a few tips to your aunt..."

She nudged Natsuki softly as she shied away from her other half-drunk aunt.

"Anyway, Kenji-kun, when are you going to marry Natsuki-chan?"

Kenji and Kazuma sputtered their drinks out while Natsuki dropped her chopsticks.

"Eh...? That...I'm just..."

Marriage? Come to think of it, he was going to be twenty-one this year...Meanwhile, he wondered if the glass in Shouta's hands were going to be crushed as a headband with the words 'OBJECTION' somehow appeared on his forehead.

"Mansaku-Ojisan!"

The rosy-cheeked man grinned foolishly and held his hands up in surrender.

"Marry?"

"I want to marry too."

"Okay."

The focus of all present at the dinner table went onto the three kids.

"Mansaku! Look what you taught the kids!"

Kenji laughed at the poor man assaulted from all sides by the woman around him. The hectic days sure pass quickly around here. Still, it was heart-warming to be a part of this family unlike any other in the world.

As he watched Mansaku suffer under their mothers, Noriko and Yumi, he stole a glimpse at Natsuki. What were her thoughts then?

Catching him looking at her, Natsuki blushed. As they both shoved their bowls of rice to their face and ate, Shouta struggled against Mansuke as he waved his handcuffs about.

"Kenji-kun, just leave the dishes..."

Kenji waved his hands frantically as she took his plates and bowls to the kitchen for cleaning.

"Natsuki-san, I..."

Mansaku held him down as Noriko smilingly jeered.

"Natsuki-chan, you will make a fine wife, really!"

As her cheeks reddened, she paced quickly into the kitchen.

Kenji's phone rang, making him sigh in relief inside. Quickly, he excused himself from the table. Slipping into his sandals, he made a short distance from the shouting and laughter and into the garden before answering the phone.

"Hello?"

"Koiso-san, it's 'Higurashi'! It's acting up again! And it's worse than ever! The…"

Kenji pressed the cell phone to his ear harder.

"Calm down, what happened?"

Fishing out a notepad and a pen, he began to scribble as he listened to the cell phone between his ears and shoulder.

"Is that all? Tell the department to commence with the lockdown and search for the rogue file in Sector D."

Running by the dining room, Kenji grabbed his laptop from his bag in the guest room and flipped it open. OZ. A code dropped down on the screen.

"What are you doing?"

Kenji jerked back from the surprise. He hadn't noticed Kazuma looked curiously over his shoulder.

"Kazuma-san, wha...?!"

Her expression stopped him from repeating her question.

"My job."

She stared at the screen full of incomprehensible digits. OZ... As Kenji worked his fingers on the keyboard through the locks in the code, a look of admiration surfaced on her face. As Kenji nonchalantly solved the problematic lines of code in a matter of seconds, the site stabilised.

"A-Amazing..."

As the screen cleared, Kenji took his cell phone out from his pockets.

"It's done, Sakuma-kun...Really, I'm on leave, can't you handle the work on your own for just this period of time? Alright, alright..."

Kazuma looked at his avatar.

"That's...Love Machine...?"

Kenji shoved his cell phone back into his pocket and looked to the tense Kazuma.

"No, that's my avatar. It was just one of the avatars being controlled by Love Machine..."

Kazuma frowned at the digital representative of himself.

"I hate it."

Eh?

Pushing him aside, she began to customize his avatar.

"Oi-oi! What are you doing?"

Kenji's eyebrows rose as he watched his simple avatar transform.

"Wha- Wait, why are you putting rabbit ears on my avatar? Ah! My mouth!"

Kazuma ignored him as she continued to work on revamping the avatar model. As Kazuma added the finishing touches, she looked to Kenji.

He was dumbstruck, on one hand, his avatar looked awesome. On the other hand...it looked suspiciously complementary to Kazuma's own avatar, King Kazma.

A satisfied facial expression showed on Kazuma's face as she saw Kenji's, though it faded before Kenji caught sight of it.

"Don't change anything."

"But-"

Kazuma only repeated herself in a harsher tone.

"Don't."

Sighing in defeat, Kenji nodded.

"Yes, Kazuma-san."

Sliding herself to one side of the small area in front of the table, she sat idly and rocked slightly about. She...isn't leaving? Kenji reluctantly slid himself into the constricted space beside her. Trying to work as naturally with her watching over him with her eyes on him,

Kenji tried to understand how she could watch over him like that when most people would have fallen asleep within minutes of supervising his work. As it grew deep into the night, a light, steady breathing came under the attention of the workaholic who was focused entirely on the laptop.

Kenji turned over and observed the sleeping female whom he suggested to rest when she yawned.

Hazel-brown hair spread across the futon as she laid in a position rather unbecoming of a lady like her. Her loose clothing exposed her navel as she turned to her side, mumbling to herself in her sleep.

A thought to pull her clothing back in place came into Kenji's mind. Another reminded him of her gender. Shaking his head, he took a blanket from the convenient pile and covered her with it.

Wrapping the blanket around herself as she turned about once more, Kazuma curled up into a ball.

Seeing her shifting uncomfortably, Kenji slid a pillow beneath her head and smiled at the peacefully sleeping girl.

She was really kind of cute, in a way, sleeping like this.

Slipping out of his room, Kenji roamed the mansion. By himself, that is, for the first time. Nearly knocking down several pieces of decorations as he groped his way into the pitch-black hall, he supposed he made quite a ruckus.

As his eyes slowly got used to the dark surroundings, a lone figure sitting, looking at the moonlit lawn turned about.

"Kenji-kun?"

Why was she still awake?

Natsuki's face told him she had the same question in mind.

"Having trouble falling asleep?"

Kenji's thoughts went to the tomboy who is currently on where he was to sleep.

"Kind of."

Sitting beside her, they viewed the amazing scenery together.

"Kenji-kun...do you remember?"

Of course he did. This was the place where she held on to his hand. Where she told him to stop the tears. He recalled swearing never to let a single tear of sadness fall from her eyes ever again if he could help it then.

"Thank you, Kenji-kun. For what you did then."

Kenji stiffened as Natsuki's leaned against his broad back.

"Thank you."

Her delicate hands slipped into his as she repeated herself.

Taking her hand into his, their fingers entwining, they stayed that way, watching the morning skies light up.

All the while, his mind wandered over the matter Mansaku mentioned.

Was he ready?

Was she ready?

Repetitive objections sounded through his mind. They've only met again since three years.

Could either of them wait for the right time then?

He didn't know.

A soft squeeze on his hand made him glance lightly to her. Kenji's worries melted away as Natsuki's lips reached his.

A light blush on both faces, they didn't break their hold on each other's hand, and instead, held with firmness stronger than before.

"Thank you."

Natsuki smiled shyly, hearing Kenji's steady voice which conveyed another message as well.

"Ah. A couple. Lovey-dovey!"

"Couple, couple."

"Lovey-dovey~"

Natsuki quickly set aside some distance between him and herself, startled by the kids. Kenji was surprised that the kids were awake at this early hour.

Admittedly, he was more shocked at them shouting 'couple' at them all of the sudden than surprised then.

The entire estate seemed to light up in an instant. Kenji hoped that this occurrence was not due to the kid's shouting, nor what they were shouting.

Mansuke yawned as he stepped out of his room. Kenji bowed his head down slightly, in courtesy of greeting.

"Don't be so formal, we are family afterall."

The words shook both Natsuki and Kenji up.

"Well, are you joining us for breakfast?"

The oblivious man obviously didn't catch the fact that his statement rose heavy considerations of the two young adults.

A/N: I really don't know where I am going with this… Do include your opinions when you give me a review. And if you don't want to review… Well, there ain't much I can write without deciding just who gets Kenji…


	3. Kenji, the legend of OZ

Summer Wars Short Fic. 3 "Ken…ji…?"

"Ah Kenji, you woke up quite early."

Noriko placed her apron onto the chair as she added the finishing touches to the dishes.

Surely it wasn't a banquet of sorts but there was a homely touch present to the simple dishes.

"Take a seat here, the others would join us soon."

Setting the plates and utensils at their places, the thin lady then moved on with her other chores. Kenji found how coordinated the household amazing.

Of course, he supposed the family was held together by more than just the family head, Mariko-Obaasan.

Kenji's mind contemplated on his own family's matters, as his thoughts drawn themselves towards them.

"Say, Kenji-kun, have you seen Kazuma-chan?"

Kiyomi asked as she stepped in with a child toddling at her side.

"She isn't in her room or the other where she uses the computer…"

Finding some way to phrase it properly, Kenji informed the lady who wasn't the very least surprised that Kazuma was in his room.

"Well, could you get her for me? By any means."

Kenji nodded, somewhat disturbed by the last part that came with a smile.

Making his way to the room, he amused himself the fact that even the kids helped out with the chores.

The sound of the alarm clock greeted Kenji as he opened the door.

Kazuma laid in a risqué posture while still in slumber, unperturbed and by the ringing of the alarm clocks and the amount of activity all around the house.

He worked his mind to ignore everything that was trying to distract him.

"Kazuma-san…Kazuma-san, wake up!"

Kenji tapped Kazuma on her shoulders. She only flipped to her other side, mumbling incoherent words. Another attempt only resulted in the same results.

Kenji wondered just what might wake her up. Lifting her to a sitting position, Kenji shook Kazuma as she responded with more murmurings, with them now somewhat clearer, all the while being limp like a ragdoll. Her eyes opened by a slit.

And she smiled.

"Ken...ji...?"

Kazuma's hands brushed lightly against his heating face as she woke from her slumber, a dreamy smile on her face.

Whaa…?

Kenji paused entirely, stunned by her actions. Her soft, tender facial expressions only made things worse.

Something was wrong. Horribly so.

Mechanically adding a few more shakes as his mind went blank, Kenji shook her awake.

Kazuma blinked, seeming to realize that this was reality as her eyes widened.

As her face went into a deeper red than Kenji's, she methodically swiped aside his hold on him and went out of the room.

Kenji's remained there for a few minutes before burying away what happened entirely from his mind.

Kenji didn't expect to see her, looking stressed and troubled, outside of the room.

She seemed to have something on her mind she had to say.

It was a strange sight, her pacing back and forth while speaking to herself.

Catching sight of him, Kazuma ran off, quickly getting out of sight.

The fact that she was avoiding him made him wonder if he did anything wrong.

Surely, she must have been talking to someone in her dream.

But the look that was in her eyes…And now, her actions…they were beginning worrying him.

Kenji clapped his hands on his face a few times.

He was simply over-thinking things, surely.

*** *** *** *** ***

"_I'll tell him."  
_

_Kazuma reaffirmed that to herself for the seventh time.  
_

_Still, Kenji was engrossed in his work.  
_

_The look on his face entranced her.  
_

_Kenji suddenly turned towards her.  
_

_Almost letting out a gasp from the shock, she masked it with a yawn.  
_

"…_Make yourself comfortable. I don't think I would get any sleep today."  
_

_Part of her yelled at her to take the opportunity of this conversation to tell him. Another small part worried over the change of the topic. As the moment came and passed, she laid on the futon, silently reprimanding herself.  
_

"_Coward, all you had to do was to say those few words!"  
_

_Muttering herself as she fell asleep, she made up her mind to tell him the moment she woke and saw him._

Kenji entered the dining room slightly after she had seated herself.

"I didn't think you would manage to wake her up, Kenji-kun."

That statement seemed to make him somewhat fearful of her cheerful looking mother. Kazuma shifted back and forth uncomfortably as Kenji sat beside her.

She figured that her mother had something to do with what happened. She just had to make something like this happen. Just what did she say in her sleep…

"I…I didn't say anything, did I?"

A question mark formed over Kenji's blank face.

Kazuma sat looked unblinkingly down at the floor in front of her.

"Am I right? I am right, right?"

Why her voice was higher-pitched and her talking sped-up, she didn't know, but she knew that she was definitely acting awfully out-of-character. A fish out of water? Probably worse.

"Yes. Right. Correct."

Backing away from Kazuma who had advanced on him as she questioned him, Kenji bumped lightly against Kiyomi as she set more dishes on the table.

"She always had a small problem of talking in her sleep. And…"

The lady paused at that point, her finger raised as she seemed to try and recall what she was trying to say.

"Okaa-san! Stop it!"

Natsuki sat herself beside Kenji as the dinner table filled up.

Breakfast was notably rushed compared to dinner, during which, the lengthy talks would take place.

Some simply grabbed a few pieces of toast and nothing else, rushing out to work.

Not that anything was wrong with that, she was somewhat of a light eater herself when it came to breakfast. And she would rather have slept past this if she she could, skipping all that happened altogether.

Kenji munched on a slightly burnt piece of toast, noting that Kazuma wasn't eating at all.

Kazuma's sister reached over the table for Kenji's plate which still had bacon on it.

"Kisara, put that down."

The four year-old pouted at her sister.

"It's alright, I'm kind of full anyway…on the other hand…you haven't ate anything…are you alright?"

"I-I'm fine!"

As if to prove herself, Kazuma grabbed a fried dough stick and began chewing on it.

"What are you looking at?!"

Kenji went back to munching on his toast like a squirrel, only to have Kazuma put a hurt expression he hadn't though her capable of while he focused on the toast.

"Thanks for the meal."

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, he thought of checking up on Sakuma. Or more simply put, OZ.

Just when he finally made up his mind to put work behind himself for a few weeks, he came after him to trigger his workaholic affliction once more. Now he couldn't take his mind off OZ…

"Kenji-kun, are you free tomorrow?"

Kenji turned about to Kiyomi who was addressing him. Kazuma had half the mind to scream at her mother. What is she doing now?!

"Yes. Is there something you would like me do?"

"Okaa-san!"

"Oh, never mind… Someone's too grouchy."

Kazuma stormed out of the room, leaving a confused Kenji looking inquisitively at Kiyomi.

Returning back to his room, he logged into OZ, his colleagues greeted him while Sakuma gave him his special treatment he reserved only for him.

A warm welcome of assignments that he usually threw to him.

The amount of files that popped all over his screen shocked him.

"What's all this?"

Sakuma's avatar whistled away on the screen.

As Kenji reached for the button to reject them, he panicked.

"They just piled up a little in your absence…"

Kenji sighed at his lazy friend. Always working only at the 11th hour.

"Just help me out this one more time."

He had thought that he would have at least learnt to complete his assignments on his own during his absence. Not only did his plan fail, it was now backfiring on him.

"I'm on vacation."

The emoticons used by Sakuma were astoundingly diverse. They all seemed pretty much for use only in this situation though. Sakuma always spent more effort on escaping the workload than that required of the work.

"The last time, please?"

A large, bright red cross floated over Kenji's avatar.

"You said that the previous time as well. I'm not falling for that anymore."

His avatar's mouth turned into an inverted 'U', tears drooping from his face.

"Please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please."

The speech bubbles went over one another, going all over the screen as did the files.

"Okay, okay…This is the last time, alright?!"

At the other end of the conversation, Sakuma's fist pumped into the air.

"Alright!"

While the files were slowly being sent over to Kenji, Sakuma looked at the new image of his avatar.

"Say, what happened to your avatar? You never did change it all these years…You're into OZ battle now?"

Kenji himself looked at the avatar. It did appear to be somewhat outfitted for that.

"Kazuma-san decided to make some minor changes according to her taste."

Swirly spectacles and a professor's hat appeared on the floating two-dimensional floating face. As a white moustache formed for the comedic effect, he pointed out his supposed mistake in his words.

"…You mean 'his'."

Kenji didn't know how he could inform him of how Kazuma was a girl all along. As the silence dragged on, Sakuma sent a few 'nudges' over and pinged his connection.

"Hello?"

A video feed slid down on the side of the screen.

"Man, I thought you were disconnected."

Well…now there was this method. Kenji watched as Sakuma's reaction came to be pretty much how his was when Natsuki told him about it.

"No. Way. You are kidding, right?"

Kenji shrugged his shoulders; there was no way he could prove it. He shivered as what would be considered 'proof' came to his mind. The doors opened without warning, shocking both of them.

"Kenji-kun, what are you doing?"

Sakuma's face shot to the corner of the screen, greeting Natsuki with a wide smile.

"Hey there, Natsuki-san."

First confused, it turned into pleasant surprise as she recognised him.

"Sakuma-san! It's been a long time, how are you?"

He gave a deliberate long sigh. Waving towards Natsuki to get closer to the speaker, he whispered. After they were done, Kenji went over and typed at the keyboard. A voice recording device popped up, playing Sakuma's last sentence.

"Having it tough, Koiso-senpai over there keeps pushing his work over to me."

Kenji's eyes flashed maliciously at the man who was sweating buckets now. The mouse cursor hung over precariously over the tab that would trash all the files he just received.

"No, wait! I was just joking. Just joking, okay?!"

Natsuki giggled while Sakuma composed himself, seeing Kenji himself laugh as well. Pushing his spectacles up, Sakuma made a change to the topic.

"On to a more serious note, the first department has decided to take over Sector D for now. We are temporarily taking care of Sector A now."

"That's good news. Anything else you have to add?"

"What's wrong? Is there anything you have to do even on your vacation?"

Kenji tapped lightly on the folder where his assignments were.

"Oh, right. No, not really. I did want to chat with Natsuki-san…"

Natsuki waved goodbye just before Kenji closed the window. There was work to be done, too.

"I'm just here to tell you that both I and Kazuma's coming along with you to the hot springs…"

Kenji froze. He and Natsuki would be…what? Going to a bath? Together?!

"I'm really looking forward to it, Kenji-kun."

As she left the room, he continued staring at the empty space.

"Get those dirty thoughts out of your mind, you."

Sakuma's voice startled him. The video feed was just minimized…not cut off…

"What are you talking about?!"

Sakuma gave him one of his looks that he usually reserved for people he referred as 'sexually inclined'.

A/N: Getting a writer's block now… Why can't I complete anything?! 


End file.
